Burs and Blocks
Feeling like a Real dentist
Carving teeth, studying gross anatomy, reviewing histology slides. Just when you think it's never going to pay off... you step into the wonderful world of Conservative Operative Dentistry, AKA real world dentistry.
Conservative Operative Dentistry (COD) started about 2 weeks ago. For 3 hours a week we get to practice real dental skills.
For three hours a week, the drilling sound of high speed hand pieces are the only noise you hear in the simulation lab. You can smell the plastic grinding off of the plastic teeth that we're learning how to prep. We get to use our hand skills to place rubber dams. Finally, in the last class of the semester, we learned how to place composite and amalgam restorations. All of the hardworking is finally paying off.
I'm realizing that each class plays a vital role in the making of a dental student. Dental anatomy is important for obvious reasons (learning the anatomy of the tooth is important if you want to properly restore it one day). But other classes that didn't seem so obvious (*cough Histology and Evidence Based Dentistry *cough) are important for future courses. I know that even if the class is not actually applicable to every day dentistry, it's going to make us more resilient and critical thinkers.
So, it's been a good week for first year dental students here at UNC. The class schedule is dwindling down as we prepare for Thanksgiving Break. Then, the chaos begins with studying for final exams in early December.
So, in the meantime, we'll keep studying hard, practicing our techniques, and supporting one another through the 18 hour work days.
But, for now, we can at least see the light beyond the madness.
Conservative Operative Dentistry (COD) started about 2 weeks ago. For 3 hours a week we get to practice real dental skills.
For three hours a week, the drilling sound of high speed hand pieces are the only noise you hear in the simulation lab. You can smell the plastic grinding off of the plastic teeth that we're learning how to prep. We get to use our hand skills to place rubber dams. Finally, in the last class of the semester, we learned how to place composite and amalgam restorations. All of the hardworking is finally paying off.
I'm realizing that each class plays a vital role in the making of a dental student. Dental anatomy is important for obvious reasons (learning the anatomy of the tooth is important if you want to properly restore it one day). But other classes that didn't seem so obvious (*cough Histology and Evidence Based Dentistry *cough) are important for future courses. I know that even if the class is not actually applicable to every day dentistry, it's going to make us more resilient and critical thinkers.
So, it's been a good week for first year dental students here at UNC. The class schedule is dwindling down as we prepare for Thanksgiving Break. Then, the chaos begins with studying for final exams in early December.
So, in the meantime, we'll keep studying hard, practicing our techniques, and supporting one another through the 18 hour work days.
But, for now, we can at least see the light beyond the madness.
Learner Prep Block and Amalgam Dispenser
Amalgam Well ad Learner Prep Block